Mikel wouldn’t be happy going into the biggest game of season – the North London Derby – after losing the first leg of a Carabao Cup final to Newcastle, crashing out of the FA Cup after a loss to Manchester United (of all), and dropping 2 points to Brighton when we needed a win to close the gap to Liverpool. He would also not be happy with the injuries and certain players’ form. But he knows a comfortable win today against Tottenham would make the fans forget the shite football we are playing and give him some relief. I always have a lot to complain, but not today because of the seriousness of the game and the opposition.
It’s the North London Derby Day!
First, when we had a chance to close the points gap twice this season, we failed to capitalise. In the previous match week, Manchester United restricted Liverpool to a 2-2 draw and it gave us a chance to close 2 point gap to the league leader. We gave it away by succumbing to Brighton. This weekday has been good again for us – Brentford’s 2 late goals made sure City shared points and Forest gave their everything to restrict Liverpool to a draw while Chelsea dropped points against Bournemouth at home. It has, again, come down to us to make the most of it. There’s 7 point difference with 20 games played between us and Liverpool, and winning us today will close the gap a bit.
And, what’s better than a London Derby at Emirates. Ange do not believe in a sit back and we love that as a team. Low blocks are a problem but not the one who likes to play ball.
Arsenal v Tottenham
Well, we haven’t lost to the Spuds at home in 14 years. Ange is having a tough time with only one win in his last 8 games. There are sitting on 13th position in the table, one better than Manchester United and that’s exactly where they belong.
In the team news, we have some set backs (probably for the good, let me be blunt). Saka, White, Nwaneri and Tomi are still not available for today while Calafiori will be judged before the game. Gabriel Jesus will be out for a very long time, and that’s a very bad thing for us – not because he is a star performer but we can’t sell him yet again this year.
I’m hoping a back 4 of Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and MLS (or, Calafiori in case he makes it). We might see a midfield of Partey, Rice and Odegaard with Martinelli, Havertz and Trossard up top.
Coming to the Jesus injury, we should accept that it’s not going to work anymore. He is either injured (unfortunate this time) or in a bad form. I don’t see him winning us more than couple of games in a calendar year so what’s the point. The problem is we can’t move him now, not in this window, not in the next one.
NLD is the most intense game of the season and we are going to miss out best player in Saka. I seriously hope the young blood understand what it means to the supporters and everyone around the club, and we go on to win by 4 goals minimum. We have been on the down slope of confidence after the FA Cup loss, extra time means we would be leggy but today’s not the day to find an excuse. It’s a war and I don’t care if you die for it.
Wrapping up
I’m sorry for not being available recently. Some family obligations and travel made me miss some of our games and I couldn’t post anything. I have returned to my den now and you would be hearing from me a lot more.
See you during the game, and thank you for all the support.
Cheers.
Havertz should never complain considering his pathetic antics
good on Tross, but the Keeper should save that…this Keeper is the gift that keeps on giving
we should probably win this by 3 or 4 now
Now that’s like a Derby. 2-1. Let’s score 6 more and we should be good.
with Tross playing, Rice is a fucking winger/wide side forward now…WTF
TRVL
Started watching few min late, saw couple of good runs from sterling and Odegaard’s back passes when it’s not needed.
Frankly, I have not been a big fan of Odegaard. He slows down the game imo. He has some great vision and passing, but he is not KDB.
Anbarish—that’s about our tactics and not having a target man like Haaland…trust me, if we did his passes would be decidely more direct…Ode simply needs someone of a similar ilk playing opposite of him so he could get some more time on the ball
Selling Ode??? We’ve missed that sense of controversy Ambarish.
I’m not able to watch…😭 but this seems to be following the narrative of many recent home NLDs. We have to stop conceeding first. Spurs sound fucking terrible save for those few minutes leading up to their goal. We need to score again before going a bit more tactical.
KP—you’re not missing much as this Spurs side is the worst I’ve seen in over a decade yet somehow we needed a lucky bounce and some horrendous Keeper play to get a 2-1 advantage
On second thoughts, and in light of our recent toothless displays, it might turn out to be a positive that the cockerel jockeys scored first…
Cheers Vieira
But any game against them is always worth watching.
such a fortuitous matchup for us, as we needed the 3 points…I doubt this Spurs side could have got points off even the bottom-dwellers…it’s like we’re playing a League 2 side, at least from a defender and Keeper capacity
KP—I do agree with the notion that it probably helped us that they scored first, as we needed a wake-up call
at least Ange has put on a more offensively-minded side, now that they know they’re going to need to score more to get a result…hopefuily this will enable us to score a few more
that Bergvall might as well be wearing an Arsenal jersey
classic Havertz refrain “if only it was on either side of the Keeper”
Spurs have been considerably better in this half so far…mind you, it would have been difficult for them to have been worse
Ambarish—please take note of who came out first and the fact that it was much earlier than MA’s usual subs
great 3 points, in the grand scheme of things, but another pathetic performance in front of goal…false bravado by Arteta at the end, likely due to his recent call for continued support from the fanbase…what a contrived twat of a man
Morning all
No replay available early doors here, but your game commentary sounds more interesting in the game.
We got lucky again. MA has a charmed life thus far, where VAR helped us again but the tin foil wearers will conveniently forget next time a decision goes against us.
Thing is do lucky teams win leagues? Maybe once in a blue moon so I see Slot’s blip having more chance of improving than MA.
At least MA can’t use the injuries excuse again having beaten the Spuds using our squad.
I while back I was complaining Skelly wasn’t gettin g time and that he was one to watch in MF, but can play an inverting LB also as a cameo well. I’m happy Skelly is getting the minutes he needs rot progress by accident of course…. Only gets played when we have injuries.
Let’s hope he’s made a case for much more game time instead of Merino in MF.
Halfway through jan already where does the time go…..?
thank the game*
think*
MA’s post-match comments:
“Very proud of the team, I think we were sensational,” Arteta insisted.
“It was a good test to see after two big performances and not get rewarded in two different competitions you have to play the biggest game of the season for our people, in those conditions.
“It’s a test of attitude, what we are made of, the courage that we have. We really cared only about a result or the performance and how much we can do in terms of what is required in the game to be better than the opposition and I think we played from minute one with and without the ball to hurt them.
“I think we fully deserved to win the game and I think we made a lot of people really happy but really proud to see a team that behaves the way they have played again.”
I simply refuse to believe that anyone else in their right mind could have drawn the same conclusions from that particular match…it’s clear that MA’s critics are living rent free in his head right now…first his public pleas for support, then this sort of exaggerated contrived nonsense in the post game presser immediately following, it reminds of last year when he went to similar lengths to oversell a then flailing Havertz…it insulted my intelligence then and it’s doing much the same now…maybe he should focus his energies on far more pertinent endeavours, like finally dealing with the fucking positional elephant in the room
as for the match itself, of course we carved ourselves some grade A chances, as this Spurs side was fucking atrocious in their own end, especially in the first 45, with their makeshift backline and Runarsson-level Keeping…even still, we couldn’t manage a clean goal, with Gab’s effort going in off Solanke and our winning goal coming from a shot that’s saved 8 or 9 times out of 10, which, for the record, isn’t a slag aimed at Tross…to be fair, their sole tally wasn’t a thing of beauty either, as I very much doubt it’s going in if it weren’t for a crucial deflection
let’s face it, we’re a side that has no real identity, minus the whole hope and a prayer set piece gig, which means that with Saka gone, we need to rely even more on the likes of Rice and Havertz, two of our 3 most advanced players, to contribute on a regular basis…maybe it will work, as they instill so little fear in the opposition that they’re unmarked in the fuckng box more often than not…even then, they seem to require an inordinate amount of premium chances in order to get the job done…once again, I simply refuse to believe that anyone thought for even a second that those two players were specifically coming here for those purposes…if they had, I truly believe that there would have been considerable pushback from the off
so what’s next?
first let’s call off the dogs on the whole Xhaka-esque Havertz’s wife online abuse narrative…when I first read about it, following our FA exit, it made perfect sense, he was trying to soften the blow of shitting the bed with a timely wag the dog ploy…of course, once I actually did my due diligence, they referenced one singular message, which, if real, was the work of a some pathetic piece of shit, then they simply dredged up a rather infamous post, of a very similar nature, from last season, when he was at the height of his struggles…surely people see right through this, much like his now classic flops, but even so, I don’t like larger implications, as if some rogue asshole represents the rest of us…I want nothing more than for us to replace him with someone of real consequence, but I would never wish harm to him or his family members simply due to what he did or didn’t do on the pitch…enough said
secondly, let’s have a serious tactical rethink before we do anymore shopping this window or next…if our plan is to stick with this whole Rice/Havertz up top narrative, let’s not waste anymore monies on this rather ponderous footballing pipe dream and let it play itself out…MA made his bed, so it’s about time he slept in it…only problem with that plan is it might take some time to dip below what might be considered an acceptable level, considering how our owner mishandled the Wenger Cup era, so the next manager might find the cupboards bare and the resources rather scarce by then…it’s real quite a quandary…what a shame it would be if the Saliba/Ode/Saka era peaked last season and it’s all downhill from here…my gut tells me that both could be playing elsewhere within a couple years, if that proves to be the case…Cheers
not both, but “all 3 could be playing elsewhere”
on the transfer front, the overriding storyline doesn’t have anything to do with this window but the next…it once again revolves around the signing of Zubimendi, who btw once played with both Merino and Ode at MA’s dream club, Real Sociedad…the headlines read “the next Rodri”, but his size and CV says otherwise…doesn’t mean he’s not a talented DM, as he’s currently Rodri’s cover piece on the Spanish national side, but the fact that he’s 5+ inches shorter and offers next to nothing going forward should quickly dispel that myth…to make matters worse, it’s clear he’s coming to further enable our 100 million dollar man to chase his ill-suited and wholly selfish dreams:
“Arsenal are, ultimately, trying to get their own Rodri. With doubts over Declan Rice’s best midfield position at No 6 or No 8”
this is what I was speaking of in my previous post…tbh I would rather have Partey up top than Rice, as he’s considerable better with the ball at his feet in those tighter spaces, but the Zubi move simply means that TP’s on the outs, as was expected anyways due to his expiring contract…wouldn’t it make infintely more sense if we gave Rice’s head a shake, deployed him in his best position, then bought a readymade quality AM…more cart before the horse nonsense by our vastly overrated MIT
oh yea, on a sidenote, some of these same articles made mention of us also maybe looking for a Striker…talk about burying the lead
There has been a lot of negativity in the media and fan base around the club recently , unfairly in my opinion.
At present we are on an 11 match unbeaten run in the league , yes we have drawn a couple of those games but this season there is a lot of depth in the league with the likes of Bournemouth, Brighton, Brentford , forest and Fulham proving very difficult teams to beat all well organised and well managed , add them to city, Liverpool, Chelsea, united , villa, Newcastle and Tottenham and you can see why the likes of city , Chelsea , Tottenham and United are floundering this season.
We have villa at home this week , a game recently that has caused us a few problems , we will need to be at our best to cone away with maximum points.
Of course not all in the garden is rosy with Havertz struggling and the team generally being very wasteful in front of goal.
We do miss saka’s input that’s for sure , sterling surprisingly played a very subdued game last night, Trossard’s goal masked what was a generally a very average performance and martinelli has probably reached his level , surely he should be given a chance to play up top whilst Havertz is struggling to hit a barn door from a couple of yards out.
Going out of the fa cup will prove to be the old blessing in disguise and personally I would like Arteta to send a weakened team to Newcastle for the league cup 2nd leg as they are on fire at the moment.
The 2nd leg will prove to be a very physical game and I see no point in risking injury and fatigue in a game that will prove very difficult to turn around , though I’m sure Arteta will think differently going by his recent history of overplaying players.
This weekend could be another pivotal weekend in the title race , for me there are only 2 teams in the race so we must chip away at liverpool’s lead in the hope that they will collapse as they did last season when they were 5 points clear at the end of January , strange how no one called them ” bottle jobs”.
Welcome Wicksy.
Took some time approve, but both your comments are approved now and you won’t be needing anymore approvals till you use the same details to post.
KP
Odegaard is a great playmaker and probably the second best in the league, but I personally hate it when he slows down the game sometimes.